§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what initiatives he plans for the improvement of hi-tech British industries.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggThe Government's major initiative for helping United Kingdom hi-tech companies is LINK which supports collaborative projects of strategic research involving companies and science base institutions. There are now 21 LINK programmes in various fields with a total value of almost £300 million, of which Government will contribute 50 per cent. Within these programmes, over 500 projects are in the pipeline. Further programmes will be announced in due course.